Important Watches

Important Watches

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 222. Two yellow gold and enamel lighters with timepiece, Circa 1930.

Cartier, Paris

Two yellow gold and enamel lighters with timepiece, Circa 1930

Auction Closed

December 6, 09:17 PM GMT

Estimate

10,000 - 20,000 USD

Lot Details

Description

Case number: 04’138, 808

Dial: eggshell

Caliber: European Watch & Clock Co. Inc. mechanical, 15 jewels

Movement number: 413’464

Case: 18k yellow gold engraved checkerboard pattern, black enameled Roman numeral chapter ring, watch secured by four screws  

Size: 46 x 33 mm

Signed: case and dial signed Cartier, movement signed European Watch & Clock Co. Inc

Box: no

Papers: no 


Case number: 05’142, 1’499

Dial: eggshell

Caliber: European Watch & Clock Co. Inc. mechanical, 15 jewels

Movement number: 420’481

Case: 18k yellow gold engraved lozenge pattern, black enameled Roman numeral chapter ring, watch secured by four screws 

Size: 46 x 33 mm

Signed: case and dial signed Cartier, movement signed European Watch & Clock Co. Inc

Box: no

Papers: no 

Le Temps de Cartier by J. Barracca, G. Negretti and F. Nencini, pp. 135 & 149.

As a Grande Joaillerie Maison, Cartier is long known for its superior craftsmanship with precious metals. And as tastemakers since its founding by Louis-François Cartier in 1947, the Maison catered to their clienteles’ needs by creating precious objets d’art that satisfied the de rigueur fashions of the day. The bygone era when a gentleman’s ensemble was not complete without a lighter coincided with the boom period of tobacco consumption from the 1920s to the 1960s.


The pocket watch was still the timekeeper of choice during the early 20th century and lighter watches or ‘briquet montre’, such as the two present examples circa 1930s, would serve the dual purpose of lighting a gentleman’s tobacco and telling the time in the most fashionable of ways. 


The turn of the 20th century also saw the transformation of Cartier into the international jewelry and watches powerhouse we know today. Led by Louis François Cartier’s grandsons Pierre, Jacques, and Louis, the company established headquarters in New York, London, and Paris, maintaining a stronghold in all major hubs of the jewelry and watches trade. 


During the 1920s Cartier teamed up with Edmund Jaeger to form the European Watch and Clock Company. The joint venture granted Cartier exclusive access to all movements produced by Jaeger for a period of 15 years. Watches containing movements produced by the European Watch and Clock Co. have since become highly sought after for their rarity and technological ingenuity for the time.


A true marriage between two Grandes Maisons and their respective know-hows, the present two lighter watches hail from Cartier Paris, and feature the very best of Cartier design and craftsmanship, housing the highly desirable movements signed by the European Watch and Clock Co. The case is beautifully decorated with engine-turned checkered and linear patterns, and the bezel is punctuated with black enamel applied on solid yellow gold Roman numeral indices. The dial features Cartier’s signature ‘chemin de fer’ design and blued Breguet hands.